Question about reading weather, swell reports, etc.

[deaconbrody]

I have some very basic questions regarding the terminology used in wave reports, weather reports, etc.

Swell Direction: when they say "a SW swell", do they mean the swell is travelling south-west from your point, or the swells are coming from the south-west towards your point?

Buoys: I see more buoy reports making it into surf sites. What are they telling a surfer than a tide-report or swell-report does not?

Tide Charts: Okay, so I can tell when the tide is coming or going at a spot. Is there a general rule for when waves are good at a certain tide? Or does it completely depend on the spot?

Last one - Closing Out: When a wave does this, it means the entire wave breaks at once, depriving us of a nice break to one side or the other, right?

Deacon

[Guest]

Your three weather/surf forecasting questions can be answered by yourself....
Go to the website stormsurf.com, open their tutorial section and start reading. Each of your questions is clearly & expertly covered there.

Re the closeout. Yep a closeout is just that.

[kieran]

Swell direction as with wind is always the direction its coming from relative to you

buoys give real time data about the condition of the sea. Not every beach in the world has a surf report so through experience and practice you can relate the buoy conditions to breaks in your area.
Its just another source of info really. The also give the period of the wave which is a sign of the wave quality.

Tides do effect wave quality but every beach is different. Check stormrider or wannasurf.com for details